Darren Aronofsky's Noah To Be Converted To 3D For Select Foreign Markets

Director Darren Aronofsky shot his upcoming biblical epic Noah in 2D and that's exactly how the film will be coming to theaters Stateside next month - but the same can't be said for the movie's international release. The Hollywood Reporter has learned from sources that Paramount Pictures plans to shake up their global release of the blockbuster by creating a special 3D version that will only be playing in cinemas outside of the U.S.

According to the trade's sources, the United States, the U.K., Australia and France will be "exclusively" receiving only 2D prints of the film, the studio believing that audiences in those regions will respond to ""the combination of the pedigree of the director and the cast and the dramatic elements of the story." Apparently they don't believe that to be the case in the 65 other countries - including Russia, all of South America and most of continental Europe - where they will be highlighting the film's spectacle angle by releasing a special post-converted 3D version of Noah that Paramount spent an extra $10 million to make after already spending an estimated $125 million on the production.

What's a bit unclear is exactly how Aronofsky feels about this latest development. THR notes that the director and Paramount butted heads over the final cut of the movie, reaching an agreement only after extensive testing and creating multiple different edits. The report doesn't mention Aronofsky's opinion on the matter or whether or not he was part of the decision process to make it happen. It's worth noting that the filmmaker has expressed some positivity about 3D filmmaking, telling MTV back in 2010:

"With the right project, I'm totally into 3D,. Scorsese's working in 3-D [on Hugo]. I am very curious what that's going to be. Like everyone, I thought Avatar was an incredible experience. I'm also interested in what someone like John Waters would do in 3D. That's when it starts to become interesting, when you start to see it used in very interesting, different ways. There is a backlash at this point, and I think that's just because it's been overexposed, but that's just because people are rushing to bank in on it. There's no doubt that interesting things are going to be done in 3D."

Noah is definitely the kind of film that we normally see Hollywood make in 3D, but if Aronofsky didn't intend his film to be converted it means the the 3D could suffer as a result. It will be interesting to see not only how international audiences react to the quality of the conversion, but also how it will end up affecting the international box office.